The backstory goes that Avi Katz decided, after forging a career in the film industry where his technical skills in animation and visual effects earned him credits on ‘Everyone’s Hero, ‘ ’9’ and ‘Gnomeo and Juliet’, to pick up a guitar. Turns out he wasn’t too bad at that, either.
On ‘Ground Level Portraits’, Katz works a blues-rock groove, drawing on folk and country too. The vibe’s trad, as much roots as ground level, but Katz is cool and laid-back sounding. The tube-crunched guitars rock, but in a mellow fashion as he sings his life. Sure, it’s the usual stuff; women, heartache and liquor. There’s a hint of ‘Superstition’ about the funked-up boogie of ‘Pack Up and Run’ and life breathes through the very spirit of the album.
When Katz strips it back to an acoustic-based sound, it works well and his hushed, low-key vocals are intimate and quietly commanding. At times, it does feel a bit 80s/90s US radio rock – ‘All In Good Time’, despite some pretty earthy lyrics, is bland, both musically and in the vocal delivery, and ‘Take Your Life Over’ is too formulaic-sounding to be more than a bog-standard pub rocker.
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Throughout, Katz shows he’s an able and adept lyricist with some deft couplets and pithy one-liners as he depicts myriad scenarios in which people screw up relationships and their lives. No question he’s a keen observer as well as a capable songwriter. Maybe giving up the day job wasn’t such a bad idea.
Avi Katz Online
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